Hip-hop artists back push to send rap lyrics case to US supreme court

Killer Mike, Big Boi and TI among rappers who argue 2011 charges against high school student for alleged threat in song criminalizes genre and black people

US rappers Big Boi, TI and Killer Mike have backed a court case they are hoping will land in the US supreme court as part of a broader effort to curb the criminalization of rap music.

Taylor Bell, who performs under the name T-Bizzle, was suspended from his Mississippi high school in January 2011 after writing a song about female students’ claims that they had been harassed by two school coaches.